Hello President and Sister Trevino

Elder Rios, Sergio and Elder Ricks


Elder Rios and Sergio


Maria de los Angeles and Grecia her granddaughter
with family.



Elder Rios tore his pants!


My Dear Family,



WOW! What an amazing week it has been. Every week seems like an amazing week. I love every single minute that I have as a missionary. This week the zone and our area have exploded and Elder Rios and I are having so much success! We'll start with us.... This last Saturday we baptized a young man named Sergio. He was a contact that Elder Rios and I did and he excepted a baptismal date from the first discussion. Today he hung around with us all day today as we did our shopping and washing the clothes! He is 30 years old and doesn't have work. He is very special and a huge friend I have made. Sunday, two of our investigators who were going to be baptized this Saturday on the 9th, told me that they wanted to be baptized sooner because they had family coming into town, so today, ON P-DAY we baptized them... Maria de los Angeles and Grecia, her grand-daughter! They are true converts and have testimonies amazingly strong! We also have a baptism this Saturday at 5pm for Tito! His is finally going to get baptized and has completely dropped smoking! We are actually in the Internet cafe that he owns right now! He is so excited to be baptized. The Lord is blessing me so much and I know it is because I have been obedient. I love what I do. Mike and Chandler... there is nothing better in the whole world.
Now... talking about the zone. Sunday night, as we talked with every district leader in the zone and reported the numbers for the week, we found a miracle. Something that Elder Rios and I have been working for since the start of the change. It is called... a bautizona. A bautizona is when every companionship in the whole zone (we are 9 companionship's) baptizes in the same week. It is hard to accomplish and rarely happens. Elder Rios and I this week discovered that every companionship in our zone, has a at least one baptism for the week of the 9th. We will have a bautizona. But the cool part is that it will be the first time in this zones history that a bautizona has been achieved. We are so excited to explode here in Foraneos. When I passed the numbers to the assistants, one of my best friends Elder Schilhabel from California who is the assistant for the south of the mission, screamed out loud with excitement. We are so blessed.
It was really really hard to say goodbye to Pdte. Hansen. They night he left it hit me hard that he wasn't here anymore. He had become a great friend and always will be. I called him the night before I left to personally thank him for all that he has done for me. He told me that he was so proud of me and that I have a great future ahead of me in my mission and in my service in the church. I love him! Pdte Trevino is now here and excited to get to work! I called him his second night here and welcomed him to the mission and Elder Rios and I presented ourselves with him! He sounds so young! I asked if he knew Omar Rodriguez from Texas and he said that he was a great friend of his! I cant wait to get to meet Pdte Trevino this Thursday. We are going up as a zone to Veracruz to meet him as a zone!
Before I forget!.. I got the package Sunday night! Can I just say that the cookies made me cry. They were so delicious. I haven't eaten something so delicious in 14 months. :) The shorts were an AMAZING idea and of course fit me like a hand made glove! I loved the binder and the letter from Robb. He hasn't changed one bit his sense of humor. I am decided that I want to go to BYU. It will be so fun rooming with Trevor and Robb! ( And Hannah!) :) Well my Texans... there aint nothin better than tha mission. Every day is a blessing and I couldnt be happier. If I could just see my family daily, have my ipod and go to Taco Cabana every morning, I would be a missionary all of my life! Know that I love you all so much! Enjoy the photos I am going to send! We have been baptizing like crazy so there will be like 5 photos! Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder James Ricks
P.S: The ward all pitched in and bought me new shoes!!!!! They all love me so much! I also had another pair of shoes repaired because with the extreme heat here they completely fell apart. I had a member fix them up and he didn't charge me anything! Life is good as a missionary!!!! Love you all!